METHOD OF TURBINE OPERATING MODES OPTIMIZATION

Abstract

Enhancing the efficiency of fuel and energy resource utilization in metallurgical enterprises, particularly at their captive power plants, is a highly relevant issue. This is due to its direct impact on reducing the cost of primary production and increasing the overall competitiveness of these enterprises. Method of optimization of operation modes of turbine units of power plants is considered. The purpose of the study is to enhance the energy efficiency of the operating modes of turbine units of power plants of metallurgical enterprises. Materials and methods. A method is presented for optimizing the operating modes of turbine units. This method focuses on minimizing the specific heat consumption for electricity generation by block of turbine units, achieved through the redistribution of a given electrical and thermal load between them. The redistribution takes into account current technological constraints, the technical condition and shutdowns of equipment, the volumes of required energy resources and generated energy production. Individual energy characteristics of turbine units are used as their mathematical models. The construction of these characteristics is performed based on actual operational data, while taking into account regulatory data (e.g., turbine unit operating diagrams). Results. An example demonstrating the optimization of operating modes for a block of four turbine units, using statistical operational data, is provided. As a result of this optimization, the specific heat consumption for electricity generation by the turbine unit block was reduced by approximately 5 %. All imposed constraints on electricity generation, heat supply from heat extraction by individual turbine units and their unit, as well as on steam consumption by individual turbine units, were satisfied. Conclusion. The presented optimization method enables the redistribution of electrical and thermal load between turbine units under given constraints, which contributes to reducing electricity generation costs. The method has been implemented as one of the functions of an automated power plant energy efficiency management system, whose primary purpose is to improve the power plant's technical and economic performance. A promising direction for further work involves the development of digital twins for turbine units to monitor and update their energy characteristics in real-time.